1. Rhode Island was the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and it did so on March 5, 1790. The state had been wary of a strong central government and had pushed for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights before agreeing to join the Union.

2. On March 5, 1860, the first Rhode Island State House building in Providence was destroyed by fire. The building, which had been completed in 1762, housed the state government until the current State House was built in 1904.

3. The Providence Grays, a professional baseball team that played in the National League from 1879-1885, won their first game on March 5, 1880. They defeated the Buffalo Bisons 5-1 in Buffalo, NY.

4. On March 5, 1917, the Rhode Island House of Representatives approved a bill to establish a state police force. The force was created to combat bootlegging and other crimes that had increased during Prohibition.

5. Brown University, one of the Ivy League schools, was founded in Providence on March 5, 1764. Originally called the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, it was the third college established in New England and the seventh in the United States.